» Worm Answers:

It depends on your needs. Here is a basic overview of all of our worms and their most common uses:

Red worms:
Mainly used for composting and some fishing, but if you have fishing in mind, you may want to go with the Nightcralwer.
African Nightcrawler:
Very large worm, great for both composting and fishing. Breeds very quickly. And they require warm temps 70- 90 degrees.

Worms will eat anything (organic). With that being said, there are a few things you should probably avoid. Meat and dairy are a bad idea since they will start to smell very quickly and attract maggots and other critters you don't want. Leaves, grass, fruit and veggie peels are all great ideas for worm food.

The first thing to consider when buying worms is: do I want to grow worms or do I want to produce castings (i.e. produce worm poop)? If your goal is to grow worms, start with at least one bin or multiple bins with 1 lb of worms per bin. The worms will realize the space to grow and available food source and be encouraged to reproduce.

If you want to consume lots of kitchen waste or any readily available food source to make castings quickly, then start with more worms. You can eventually do both. Split trays in half or quarters to encourage reproduction. Or keep the density of worms high to encourage consumption. The worms will still reproduce to the capacity of each bin. But, lots of worms eat lots of stuff.

The Red Wigglers are compost eaters and not regular earthworms that burrow. Red Wigglers will not run away like a Nightcralwer. Red Wigglers will do extremely well in your raised beds as long as you give them lots of organic matter to feed on. Consider the raised bed just an extra large worm bin that plants grow in. The worms will not eat your veggies.

Red Wigglers optimum temp is 40-85 degrees with 60-80 degrees being best growth temps. Worms will still survive to extremes maybe 20 - 95 (sometimes even more) by just going dormant. African Nightcralwer optimum temp is 72-90 degrees . It cannot survive in temperatures below 65 or above 100 degrees. Only minor protection will greatly help survival rate. Dry bedding during extremes really helps as bedding is insulation. The cocoons will survive even more extreme temp thus, allowing the population to re-develop if it dies off.